


Getting Too Close

by mixthealphabet



Series: And It Grows [12]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Part of a series for a reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-24
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-24 11:18:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/939364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixthealphabet/pseuds/mixthealphabet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It wasn't awkward." He protested, holding onto her legs when she tried to throw them over the edge of the couch in order to get up. "It was good."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting Too Close

_I tried so hard to act nice like a lady. You taught me that it was good to be crazy. Every now and then the stars align, boy and girl meet by the great design; could it be that you and me are the lucky ones?_

The way Lucy Heartfilia had been acting the last couple days was strange, unusual in a manner that alerted her partner, who had thought that, by then, he should be somewhat immune to her weirdness. As it turned out, there was still quite a lot for Natsu Dragneel to learn, because silence coming from the celestial mage certainly wasn't in his list of expectations.

"Is Lucy sick?" Happy asked from his perch on the window, waggling his tail in a way that made the boy think the exceed was more worried than he was letting on.

"I don't think so. She hasn't complained about any pain and her temperature feels the same."

In fact, that morning, Natsu had woken up to find Lucy cuddled up against him, her light warmth bringing a sort of pleasurable tingle to his skin. She had seemed incredibly content, just lying there with him while the spring air filled the room with its floral scent.

The window had been open, letting the night breeze come in and diminish the heat of the afternoon. This habit of hers used to make the dragon slayer a bit concerned; someone living alone should be more careful about the possibility of invaders, especially when living so near the center of Magnolia. Back when they first started their team, Natsu had made sure to visit Lucy as often as possible, something that Erza and Gray seemed to agree was best.

But the blonde was strong – stronger than she looked and possibly stronger than he imagined she might be –, and she could take care of herself. Of course she had weakness, but she was also far from the helpless  _lady_  that her father had tried to make her into.

"What are the two of you mumbling about?"

Lucy's head popped out from behind the kitchen's doorframe, eyeing her boys with distrust. She'd been trying to bake something the entire morning, a family recipe she'd found on one of her mother's old books. That was also the only thing she'd said to them since waking up.

"Oh, you're talking to us, now?" Natsu grumbled under his breath, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting his eyes to the side.

He heard footsteps and then Lucy was crouching in front of him, a look of curiosity and frustration in her eyes.

"So that's what you were pouting about." She sighed, resting her hands on his knees in order to maintain balance.

Natsu readjusted himself in the couch, suddenly uncomfortable with her touch. It didn't help that looking down at her only served to give him a better view of the cleavage that already appeared from her low cut shirt.

It was decided, this attraction thing needed to go.

She stood up straight, shaking her head in what he guessed was amusement caused by his flushed cheeks.

"We thought you might have eaten a bad fish!" Happy intervened. "Because your face was all weird, aye!"

Lucy glanced at the cat, a glare making its way into her expression, before disappearing as the girl let out another sigh.

"I guess I was a bit distracted. I'm sorry if I was rude."

She smiled then, crossing one arm in a half self-hug and turning around to go back to the kitchen.

The image startled Natsu for the artificiality of it. He couldn't remember a time when their friend had looked as uneasy as then, pretending to be fine just so they wouldn't continue to question what was happening to her.

Before the girl could escape, Natsu had taken hold of her hand, pulling her back. The whip-effect made Lucy stagger for a moment, tripping on the rug and falling over his leg and onto the couch.

The two stared at each other.

"Well, at least I didn't fall on your lap." She giggled, throwing her head back and putting a hand over her eyes. "That would have been very cliché."

Natsu cracked a smile, feeling strangely glad that he'd gotten her to laugh.

He put a hand on her knee, tracing the small scars that were still there from their last mission. The mage tensed, initially, but it didn't take long for her to relax into his touch, parting her fingers to look at him.

"What really happened, Luce?"

There was a softness in his tone that he used only for her and it seemed to be something that the girl knew, too, because a barely-there redness took her cheeks and she closed her fingers to hide her eyes once again.

Happy was observing them from the ground, his gaze going from the quiet girl to the frowning dragon slayer, with whom he shared a concerned look.

"It's just awkward, Natsu." She exhaled loudly, still covering her eyes. "This morning. It was awkward. I don't think we should share the bed, anymore."

At this, the boy staggered, throwing himself back and into the sofa's cushions in a movement of such clear embarrassment that it startled Happy out of his confused thoughts.

"What happened this morning?" The cat asked, uneasy.

Well, it had started like many before, of course, with Natsu waking up before dawn. Their position hadn't been one of the more suggestive ones, but there had been an intimacy to it that had somehow stopped the boy from trying to disentangle himself.

He had no opposition to having Lucy with him. He had made it obvious that he liked her company and her bed, and having the two combined had always seemed like the most acceptable choice. Everything about their nights together felt like home; the warmth, her scent, the feel of her skin. Even after the rise of his odd desire for her body, Natsu had remained fairly unaffected by his physiological responses and her reactions to them.

The changes, he imagined, had started with his sudden discontentment with the idea of letting go.

"I don't see what's the big deal." Natsu complained, scrunching up his brows and pouting.

Lucy groaned, palming her face in distress.

"You don't! That's the problem!" She smashed her hands against the cushions, pushing herself up to look at him. "I'm a girl, Natsu! Have you even noticed that? I'm a girl, and you're a boy!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" He questioned, his face twisting into confusion. "I know you're a girl. I've felt it."

That was the wrong thing to say, if the pillow that crashed into his head was any indication.

"Can you stop bringing this up?" The shout was less of a request than it was an order. "It's not proper!"

At this, the boy snickered, fully turning to stare at his friend.

"So what?" He stopped another pillow. "Like I said, it's not a big deal. We are partners; I don't care what others will think, and you shouldn't either."

His words seemed to quiet her down a bit, but Lucy puffed her cheeks, looking flushed.

"I wasn't raised like this, Natsu. I wasn't supposed to have been…" She hesitated, shifting her gaze to the floor. "To have been touched like that, I wasn't supposed to share a bed with a boy, and I certainly wasn't supposed to –" She interrupted herself, glancing at the dragon slayer with what could only be described as panic.

The boy contoured one of the scars on her knee, the look in his eyes urging her to continue.

"I wasn't supposed to get used to you being there in the morning, not like it was today." The girl took a deep breath. "It was awkward, Natsu."

That morning, dawn had come to find the boy still in the same position he'd woken up in, staring at the blonde with unabashed wonder. He liked the way she mumbled things while sleeping, and he liked the curve of her lips itself, he liked how her breathing pushed her chest against his and how that touch made his entire body vibrate. Getting lost in his appreciation of her, Natsu didn't notice that warm brown eyes had started to blink until they were already fully open, staring up at him.

Lucy had smiled then, that same smile from the previous days, in which there was a sense of complete satisfaction with life and just a bit of shyness. He blamed the haziness of the morning, but Natsu had wanted to lean over and kiss that smile and those mumbling lips and that curve, right down to where their chests met.

"It wasn't awkward." He protested, holding onto her legs when she tried to throw them over the edge of the couch in order to get up. "It was good."

Whatever she'd taken from his statement, it had caused the celestial mage to stop trying to get away and made her stare at him with wide eyes and a blank expression.

"Haven't I told you already?" Natsu continued. "You are not a lady, Luce, you are part of Fairy Tail. That's where you belong: laughing and drinking with everyone. That's okay, too. No need to be proper when we know that Cana uses guys like they are disposable, and Laxus is about as serious about his relationships as Nab is about taking a mission." He laughed. "And I know that you don't think any less of them because of that, as long as they make what they want clear for those they are involved with."

Not for the first time in the past few months, Lucy was taken aback by the rationality of her friend's words. He had surely grown – in more ways than one – but it was still strange to face his changes.

The girl sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day, letting her head fall back against couch and closing her eyes. There was a heaviness to her eyelids that spoke of how much energy those thoughts had been taking from her.

"You're right."

Natsu grinned, patting her knee in a manner that could be considered affectionate, but felt more like she was being treated like a pet.

"Sure I am. And you are a weirdo." He nudged her legs, signaling that he wanted her to get up. "But now I want to know what you were cooking."

Lucy moaned, drowsiness clouding her mind.

"It was this pie my mother used to make. It never came out right, but my finishing teacher used to say that cooking was one of the most important traits a woman of my status should have." She chuckled bitterly. "Father didn't agree. His daughter was an heiress, not a servant. Didn't matter, really, I always forgot it in the oven…"

Her eyes opened, a grimace of surprise taking her face.

"I forgot it in the oven!"

Natsu laughed as she jumped over his legs, rushing back into the kitchen. He stood up lazily, scratching the back of his neck as he made his way to the girl.

Inside, Lucy was frowning down at the pie. It seemed eatable, but the edges were certainly burned, almost black. Happy was flying over her shoulder, giggling into his paws.

"Not a lady, at all!" The exceed commented, flying higher when the blonde reached out for his wings, threatening to pluck them out.

By their side, Natsu continue to grin, taking advantage of Lucy's momentary distraction to take little pieces of the pie.

"Aye," He exclaimed, turning to the girl, who stopped her violence towards Happy to look at him, "but just how I like it!"

A bright redness colored Lucy's cheeks as her eyes grew wide, but Natsu said nothing else, too engrossed in his food to completely take in her reaction. After a moment, her expression softened and she giggled, staring at the dragon slayer with that same pleased and shy smile of hers.

**Author's Note:**

> I sort of liked how this turned out, because all I had in mind while writing it was "fluff, fluff, fluff" and there ended up being a little character development.
> 
> The song is Lucky Ones, by Lana Del Rey.
> 
> A shout out to Carols, who reads my stories before I upload them and boosts up my ego.


End file.
